Despite many voices to the contrary, Saskatoon City Council has approved a temporary Emergency Residential Shelter at 1701 Idylwyld Drive North.

The Province approached the City to issue a development permit for the location, where a temporary shelter would be places for up to 18 months. Council had the opportunity to approve the shelter for as little as one month, but due to difficulties the Province would have procuring a third-party to staff the building, the pilot project was approved for the entire 18-month duration.

The ministry responsible will also be requested to report back to the City at 6- and 12-month intervals on obstacles and successes of the pilot.

A lack of notice is what is bothering many area-residents. Business owner Jennifer Shire says the only form of public engagement prior to the decision was a set of flyers handed out to businesses and homes within a 300 metre radius of the site, however some seemed to be skipped.

“I am a local business owner about a block-and-a-half away from this facility, and I only found out about this last Friday morning. I did not receive a notice, and neither have several of my neighbors on the street,” she explained.

Lesley Anderson, City Director of Planning and Development, admits that the flyers were sent out much too late, but attributes urgency of the homelessness crisis as to why there was a lack of public engagement on the topic.

Another business owner, Josh Penner, says although he received notice of the pilot project, it will still have significant impact on the safety of the community.

“The neighborhood is already rough, and to me, the introduction of this facility is just going to drag other bad things into the neighborhood. We’ve already got issues with drug use. People that are so impaired that they are walking down in front of businesses, people walking in and out of businesses,” Penner remarked.

The shelter will be able to hold 15 people with severe complex needs for 24-hours each. After their 24-hour stay is up, they will be connected to and dropped off at support services in the community if they are receptive to the offer.

Assistant Deputy Minister for Housing Louise Michaud says there is no guarantee that the residents will want to be transported to a support service once their time is up. This may lead to an increased homeless population in the area; however, she says it is very unlikely that unhoused people will gather outside the shelter or in the surrounding area.

If the weather is unsafe or unfit to send the residents outside, Michaud eluded that keeping them inside the shelter could become a possibility and would be determined on a case-by-case basis.

The Province has arranged a third-party organization to staff the facility, however they have not yet disclosed the name of the business as the agreement has yet to be declared in ink. Provincial Government spokesperson Chad Ryan says said organization will be providing both the security and healthcare aspects once the facility opens early in the new year.

At the end of the 18 months, if all goes well, the Provincial Government will then decide on a location for a permanent facility if they so choose.

The Province had previously asked the City of Saskatoon to locate two sites for two new emergency shelter spaces, which are part of the government’s investment in new funding to create 15 new complex needs, and 60 new emergency shelter spaces in Saskatoon.  The site on Idylwyld is not one of those two sites. They still have yet to be decided upon.